Funding entity Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
For the 17th consecutive year, this 5-session hands-on learning experience continues to evolve, exploring how mathematical modeling can inform and accelerate the transition toward net-zero targets. With a primary focus on electricity systems, the course highlights their central role in a carbon-constrained economy that must deliver reliable, affordable energy while accommodating rapid demand growth, especially from data-center development. Participants examine critical challenges shaping future power systems, including large-scale carbon-free energy deployment, the expanding potential of demand response, and the accelerating rise of data centers as dominant electricity consumers. Addressing these challenges requires advanced mathematical models to optimize and analyze complex decisions, from grid and generation expansion to flexibility, to ensure the system can reliably meet sustained load growth. In addition to providing theoretical insights, the course offers practical tools that enable participants to perform their own case studies. Real-world applications illustrate how quantitative modeling can inform key stakeholders, guide public understanding, and support collective action toward a secure, clean, and data-center-ready energy future.
Layman's summary: This intensive course summarizes the experience that the IIT has accumulated in the development of models for the electricity sector in a context of energy transition.
2026_MIT-Course_IAP
